536 replies to this topic

[Purple Tom]

You'll never guess what, its only bloody running!!

I won't go into all the drama's and stuff else I'll be here all night, but the upshot is that it runs, really nicely in fact, although is quite rattly from the old tappets, hopefully they'll settle down. There's no fuel or water leaks and everything is good, all the electrics worked first time (including the stereo yay!).

The downshot is that I can't get enough clutch adjustment, the clutch isn't disengaged when the pedal is on the floor. Further examination shows that the pedal and clevis pin is worn, meaning there's play which is probably why I can't get enough adjustment. So off the pedal came for modifying, hopefully it'll be sorted for tomorrow.

Here's some pics, MOT is booked for saturday morning at 11pm.









(where the ECU lives)



Obviously there's still some work left to do!

[Purple Tom]

The clutch is sorted and working now, thanks to some crafty engineering, thanks dad!! I got it up to temperature when idling earlier on, the electric fan seems to do its job and the heater blows really warm, I don't think cold toes are going to be a problem!! It moves now, the brakes work and it engages all gears, although they feel a bit rough, hopefully a bit of use will help free up the gearbox as its sat for a while.

Erm, thats about it. MOT in the morning *fingers crossed*

Anyone notice any parallels to this time last year on my project? It was 366 days ago that I was taking the newly running 1293 for its MOT! Lets hope it passes first time again!

[marc]

Just seen tom at the mot station, its looking very nice, although his washer jets werent working so i dont know if he sorted it and got it passed. And he didnt have a passenger seat so couldnt take me out in it


I so need to get mine on the way to being nearly finished!

[Purple Tom]

Right now I'm about as pissed off as I can be.

The MOT bloke, who looked and acted like Trigger from Only Fools and Horses, failed it on 2 things:

• He didn't believe the tyres - Yoko A032R's - were road legal............what the hell!!!!????
• He didn't believe that the - tilting - bucket seats on Mini subframes weren't supposed to be anchored at the back - how can you anchor them when they tilt to get access to the back!!!!????

So I'm pretty annoyed.

I'm taking the car back to his boss on Monday morning with proof of the legality of A032R's, and proof that the seats are legal. He also had the cheek to ring his boss on the phone and ask his advice about the seats, his boss said to fail it, and hadn't even seen or understood what he meant!

Needless to say I've not paid anything and I'm definitely not paying for a re-test!!

On a better note it passed on everything else, emissions, brakes etc etc so all is good - its just pissed me off that for the sake of a stupid ignorant bloke who said 'I've never MOT'd a Mini before, I don't like them', I can't drive the car until monday. FFS.

Oh yeah, washer jets are working now

[Madmax]

get back at them with that proof tom, make them look stupid!

you'll be in it soon enough, then you'll have to give me a ride one time at a show in the future!

i meant a ride in the car by the way

[Brawlyrox]

c0cks!!! that seriously isnt good. I would take back the info just to make them look stupid, and if he is an MOT tester he should know the legalities of tyres etc.!!

[marc]

Idiot!! I should of stayed and done it myself in their garage! Fools!

Try and get a reduction on the price once the realise they were wrong! Threaten to report them to vosa if they dont, if they cant prove that something is a definite fail they should in theory, pass and advise.

[m3ntalist]

Looking sweet! cant believe that MOT tester

[clubman katie B.F]

ambergate commercials in ilkeston...he does a good mot i have heard....he loves minis and grass tracks em tom

[Purple Tom]

Yeah will take it there last time, the garage I used (also in Ilkeston) was the only one I called who could do it on saturday. Oh well, should have the certificate in the morning.

[Bungle]

[Purple Tom]

Well it passed, surprise surprise!

The clutch has taken some doing, the final solution was by modifying a pedal arm to have a longer radius to get more movement from the clutch arm on the gearbox. Its worked a treat though, the clutch feels great and the bite is right in the middle, and now I can change gear properly!

I can't get used to the amount of torque the engine has. I keep setting off in first and just lighting the tyres up, so I change to second and do the same thing! I took it out in the wet early this morning and it felt a bit skittish in fourth!!

But having that fifth gear is fantastic, at 70mph its turning at 3400rpm, and probably doing about 45mpg.....nice (especially when you consider the 6500rpm redline )

Everything works now though, except my heater matrix decided to spring a leak this morning, so I just bypassed the heater and I've just got to fit a new matrix and jobs a good'un. Oh yeah, also got the wire up the sender unit for the electronic speedo, and calibrate it, but that shouldn't take too long, just a small bracket to make.

Roll on BH2N!!!

[Teapot]

Per ardua ad astra, as me old dad used to say (he was in the RAF). This has been a fantastic project through thick and thin and I'm going to read the whole lot again. Just hope you now get 110 per cent satisfaction driving it.

[Brawlyrox]

OOOO what a beast!!! i will be seeing a lot of ur ass end next week OO errr!!

[Jammy]

Excellent news Tom! Look forward to seeing it in just over a week! If anyone could get it all done for now you could.